• Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan remotely flagged off the first supply of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) based biodiesel blended diesel from Indian Oil’s Tikri Kalan Terminal, Delhi. 

• Experimenting with doping diesel with a small portion of biodiesel extracted from leftover cooking oil in kitchens is an important step to cut reliance on imports as well as reducing carbon emissions.

Significance of the project

• Diesel, India’s most used fuel, is made from crude oil, for which the nation is 85 per cent dependent on imports. Imports can be reduced if a portion of diesel extracted from fossil oil is supplemented by an equally combustible diesel.

• India consumed 72.7 million tonnes of diesel in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2021. 

• Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman S.M. Vaidya said that as much as 23 million tonnes of edible oil is consumed in the country annually. Out of this, 3 million tonnes of oil is discarded after use and is called used cooking oil. There is a potential to generate 222 crore litres of UCO annually but no structure exists for collection of waste cooking oil.

• Food Business Operators (FBOs) often use same cooking oil for repeated frying. The consumption of Used Cooking Oil (UCO) poses adverse health effects since polar compounds are formed during frying. These compounds are associated with several diseases such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, liver diseases amongst others. Used cooking oil is either not discarded at all or disposed of in an environmentally hazardous manner choking drains and sewerage systems.

• Biodiesel is an alternative fuel similar to conventional or ‘fossil’ diesel. It can be produced from vegetable oil, animal fats, tallow and waste cooking oil. 

• A significant advantage of biodiesel is its carbon-neutrality. The oilseed absorbs the same amount of CO2 as is released when the fuel is combusted in a vehicle. Also, biodiesel is rapidly biodegradable and completely non-toxic.

How is the project implemented?

• The oil companies floated an expression of interest (EoI) seeking biodiesel made from UCO, offering a fixed price for five years and a guaranteed offtake for 10 years.

• So far, IOC has also issued 23 LOIs (Letter of Intent) for biodiesel plants with a total capacity of 22.95 crore litres. Under this initiative, IOC has received 51 kilolitres of UCO-Biodiesel at its Tikri Kalan terminal in Delhi as of March 31.

• As many as 30 LOIs have been issued at the industry level (by IOC, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) which will give 26.62 crore litre of biodiesel in years to come.

• Under this initiative, Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) offer periodically incremental price guarantees for five years and extend off-take guarantees for ten years to prospective entrepreneurs.

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